PAM. 
Ml  SC, 


WORLD  RECONSTRUCTION  PAPERS 


Second  Series — No.  2 


The  Christian  Ministry 
Overseas 

By 

Frank  W.  Bible 


STUDENT  VOLUNTEER  MOVEMENT 
25  Madison  Avenue,  New  York 


FRANK  W.  BIBLE,  a  former  missionary 
of  the  Presbyterian  Board  in  China,  is 
now  head  of  the  China  Survey  of  the 
Interchurch  World  Movement. 


THE  CHRISTIAN  MINISTRY  OVERSEAS 

By  Frank  W.  Bible 

The  real  work  of  the  Christian  ministry  overseas 
has  often  been  obscured  by  the  use  of  the  term  evan¬ 
gelistic.  At  home,  the  evangelist  is  engaged  in  one 
specialized  and,  on  the  whole,  rather  limited  form  of 
work,  a  form  not  especially  connected  with  the 
broader  and  more  regular  opportunities  of  the  min¬ 
istry.  It  is  but  natural  that  students  familiar  with 
this  use  of  the  term  should  be  inclined  to  interpret 
the  word  in  its  application  to  work  overseas  in  the 
same  general  way.  But,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  the 
term  as  used  abroad  is  applied  to  a  ministry  broader 
and  more  varied  than  that  of  the  whole  work  of  the 
ministry  in  the  home  land. 

The  ministry  overseas  is  in  reality  the  most  varied 
and  wide  ranged  of  all  the  types  of  work  which  com¬ 
bined  make  the  work  of  foreign  missions  the  broad¬ 
est  and  most  inclusive  presentation  of  the  whole 
scope  of  Christianity  which  the  world  has  ever 
known.  To  be  an  evangelist  overseas  is  to  enter  upon 
large  tasks  and  to  face  big  problems, — larger  tasks 
and  bigger  problems  than  most  men  face  in  any  form 
of  Christian  work  in  the  homeland. 


3 


To  begin  with,  the  ministers  overseas  are  the 
pioneers.  To  them  falls  the  alluring  task  of  explor¬ 
ing  the  unknown  fields.  Sometimes,  as  in  the  case 
of  Livingstone,  it  is  the  doctor  who  leads  the  way; 
but  it  is  usually  because  he  has  assumed  the  func¬ 
tions  of  the  minister  in  addition  to  those  of  a  doctor 
that  he  becomes  the  pioneer.  I  asked  a  missionary 
familiar  with  the  history  of  missionary  pioneering 
in  Africa  to  give  me  the  names  of  a  score  of  men  who 
had  done  extensive  pioneering  work.  All  but  three 
or  four  were  ministers.  Dr.  McGilvary,  who  worked 
for  many  years  in  Siam,  is  a  typical  example  of  this 
side  of  the  ministry  overseas.  When  he  began  his 
work,  a  large  part  of  Siam  was  “unoccupied  terri- 
tory”  from  the  missionary  point  of  view.  He  made 
long  trips  of  exploration,  covering  North  Siam,  East¬ 
ern  Burma,  and  the  present  French  Lao  State — an 
area  equal  to  that  of  the  states  of  New  York,  Penn¬ 
sylvania,  New  Jersey,  Ohio,  Indiana,  and  Illinois.  In 
one  of  his  trips  he  stumbled  upon  a  village  whose 
people  spoke  a  tongue  different  from  that  of  the 
Siamese.  He  learned  from  what  section  they  had 
come  and,  working  his  way  far  north  into  the  Lao 
States,  became  the  pioneer  not  only  of  missionary 
effort  but  of  practically  all  the  good  things  that  our 
Western  civilization  has  to  offer  the  peoples  of  the 
East. 

As  a  pioneer  the  minister  overseas  lays  founda- 


4 


tions.  Dr.  Brown  speaks  of  the  work  of  Dr. 
McGilvary  in  these  terms : 

“In  all  the  marked  development  of  the  Lao  Mis¬ 
sion,  Dr.  McGilvary  was  a  leader — the  leader.  He 
laid  the  foundations  of  medical  work,  introducing 
quinine  and  vaccination  among  a  people  scourged  by 
malaria  and  smallpox,  a  work  which  has  now  devel¬ 
oped  into  five  hospitals  and  a  leper  asylum.  He  be¬ 
gan  educational  work,  which  is  now  represented  by 
eight  boarding  schools  and  twenty-two  elementary 
schools,  and  is  fast  expanding  into  a  college,  a  medi¬ 
cal  college,  and  a  theological  seminary.  He  was  the 
evangelist  who  won  the  first  converts,  founded  the 
first  church,  and  had  a  prominent  part  in  founding 
twenty  other  churches,  and  in  developing  a  Lao 
Christian  Church  of  four  thousand  two  hundred  and 
five  adult  communicants.  His  colleague,  the  Rev. 
W.  C.  Dodd,  says  that  Dr.  McGilvary  selected  the 
sites  for  all  the  present  stations  of  the  Mission  long 
before  committees  formally  sanctioned  the  wisdom 
of  his  choice.  He  led  the  way  into  regions  beyond, 
and  was  the  pioneer  explorer  into  the  French  Lao 
States,  eastern  Burma,  and  even  up  to  China.  Go 
where  you  will  in  northern  Siam,  or  in  many  of  the 
sections  of  the  extra-Siamese  Lao  States,  you  will 
find  men  and  women  to  whom  Dr.  McGilvary  first 
brought  the  Good  News.  He  well  deserves  the  name 
so  frequently  given  him  even  in  his  lifetime, — ‘The 
Apostle  to  the  Lao/  ” 


5 


It  will  perhaps  come  as  a  surprise  to  those  who 
have  not  been  close  students  of  missions  to  learn  that 
there  is  still  a  great  demand  for  just  such  pioneering 
work.  A  survey  now  being  conducted  by  the  Inter¬ 
church  World  Movement  has  revealed  the  tremen¬ 
dous  extent  of  territory  which  is  still  unoccupied  in 
any  definite  way  by  the  missionary  enterprise.  With¬ 
in  the  bounds  of  China  proper,  there  are  sections  as 
large  as  the  states  of  Connecticut  and  Massachusetts 
combined  in  which  the  whole  Christian  movement  is 
yet  to  be  launched;  and,  putting  together  all  these 
areas  within  China  proper,  it  has  been  discovered 
that  they  have  an  extent  and  contain  a  population 
equal  to  that  of  the  following  states  combined : 

Pennsylvania,  West  Virginia,  Ohio,  Indiana,  Illi¬ 
nois,  Kentucky,  Wisconsin,  Minnesota,  Iowa. 

Then,  stretching  westward  from  China,  are  the 
great  regions  of  Tibet,  Sinkiang  (Chinese  Turke¬ 
stan)  and  Mongolia,  with  an  area  greater  than  that 
of  the  United  States  east  of  the  Missouri  River,  in 
which  only  the  beginnig  of  work  has  been  done. 

In  the  Sudan  of  Africa,  there  is  a  region  where  one 
could  travel  today  in  a  direct  line  from  the  farthest 
outpost  in  the  east  for  fifteen  hundred  miles  before 
he  would  reach  the  first  station  of  the  line  thrown 
out  from  the  west.  In  this  region,  as  in  North  Africa 
as  a  whole,  there  is  added  to  the  attraction  of  pio¬ 
neering  something  of  the  challenge  of  battle.  For 


6 


here,  perhaps,  more  than  anywhere  else  in  the  world, 
Christianity  is  face  to  face  with  a  militant  opponent. 
The  Moslem  advance  has  long  since  swept  over  North 
Africa  and  now  creeps  steadily  down  into  and  almost 
through  Central  Africa,  while  Christianity  awaits 
the  men  with  courage  and  spirit  to  go  out  into  the 
African  jungles  and  hold  the  line. 

The  call  for  the  pioneer  comes  from  nearly  all 
parts  of  the  overseas  field.  The  great  interior  of 
Brazil  with  its  millions  of  Indians,  Afghanistan 
closed  still  to  all  white  men,  and  Arabia,  which  apart 
from  the  coast  is  known  little  better  than  Africa  was 
a  generation  ago — all  these  are  parts  of  the  great 
unoccupied  field,  which  throws  out  a  challenge  to  the 
student  of  today. 

It  must  be  remembered  of  course  that  pioneering 
is  hard  work.  It  may  sound  romantic,  but  the  ro¬ 
mance  is  a  small  part  of  the  real  thing.  A  man  to 
do  this  work  must  be  able  to  stand  physical  hard¬ 
ships.  He  must  be  able  to  live  much  alone ;  for  pio¬ 
neers  do  not  go  in  large  companies  nor  carry  along 
the  comforts  of  civilization.  But,  if  the  men  can  be 
found,  there  will  be  more  real  pioneering  done  in  the 
next  ten  or  fifteen  years  than  in  any  past  generation ; 
in  fact,  this  may  be  the  last  call  for  pioneering 
missionaries. 

Most  ministers,  overseas,  however,  are  not  pio¬ 
neers  in  this  large  sense,  for  the  majority  go  to  fields 


7 


already  opened  for  Christian  work.  This  means  only 
a  more  varied  life  and  a  wider  range  of  service.  The 
minister  has  always  been  closer  to  the  life  of  the 
land  in  which  he  works  than  the  other  workers.  He 
and  the  doctor  come  into  contact  with  all  classes  of 
people  while  the  educator  as  a  rule  meets  selected 
individuals  often  drawn  from  limited  classes.  The 
minister  comes  to  know  all  the  problems  of  the  peo¬ 
ple,  and,  because  of  this,  while  sticking  to  his  pri¬ 
mary  task  of  building  up  a  church  which  will  some¬ 
time  be  strong  enough  to  take  the  whole  Christian 
responsibility  on  itself,  he  is  driven  almost  inevitably 
to  a  broad  conception  of  the  function  of  the  Church 
and  the  scope  of  the  Christian  movement.  He  is  likely 
to  be  a  strong  supporter  of  the  work  of  the  schools 
and  indeed  to  have  an  active  part  in  them.  Many  of 
the  strongest  educational  institutions  were  founded 
by  ministers  whose  training  in  the  so-called  evan¬ 
gelistic  work  fitted  them  for  leadership  in  education. 
And  perforce  every  minister  overseas  is  a  social 
worker. 

My  personal  knowledge  is  confined  to  China,  but 
conditions  are  probably  not  very  different  on  other 
overseas  fields  where  the  work  is  well  organized; 
and  one  of  the  striking  facts  in  China  is  the  marked 
extent  to  which  this  ordinary  work  of  the  ministry 
overseas  has  proved  to  be  the  most  effective  training 
for  large  leadership.  There  are  five  mission  schools 
of  college  grade  in  the  lower  Yangtse  valley.  At 


8 


least  four  of  the  presidents  of  these  colleges  were 
called  to  their  posts  from  successful  work  in  the 
ministry.  Shangtung  University  has  throughout  its 
history  filled  its  presidential  post  in  this  way.  The 
newly  organized  Peking  University  went  outside  the 
limits  of  all  the  missions  organically  connected  with 
the  school,  but  chose  a  man  who,  in  the  first  in¬ 
stance,  had  gotten  his  touch  with  China  and  his 
knowledge  of  the  Chinese  as  a  minister.  The  same  is 
true  of  the  chief  executive  positions  of  a  general  or 
national  nature  in  the  missionary  enterprise.  The 
China  Continuation  Committee,  a  general  advisory 
and  consultative  body  representing  the  whole  mis¬ 
sionary  movement,  is  headed  by  a  man  trained  in 
this  way,  and  the  same  is  true  of  bodies  such  as 
the  China  Council  of  the  Northern  Presbyterian 
Missions. 

The  most  important  thing  about  the  ministry  over¬ 
seas  at  the  present  time  is  the  tremendous  nature  of 
the  problems  which  it  must  face.  It  must  be  remem¬ 
bered  that  in  nearly  all  of  the  overseas  lands  con¬ 
ditions  are  changing  with  a  rapidity  and  to  an  ex¬ 
tent  which  leaves  the  best  informed  and  watchful 
almost  overwhelmed.  All  Asia  is  breaking  loose  from 
its  old  moorings.  Not  in  one  land,  but  in  practically 
all  lands,  there  have  been  changes  in  the  last  two 
decades  so  enormous  that  no  one  can  yet  measure 
their  significance.  The  Chinese  Republic  does  not 


9 


excite  a  large  amount  of  admiration,  but  not  even 
the  failures  of  the  government  at  Peking  can  hide  the 
importance  of  the  effort  which  the  Chinese  people 
are  making.  The  rise  of  nationalism  in  Asia  brings 
problems  before  which  the  most  optimistic  are  sober. 
The  relations  between  the  peoples  of  the  East  and  the 
West  are  more  strained  than  for  long  periods.  The 
tension  between  China  and  Japan,  the  relation  of 
Korea  and  Japan, — these  are  world  problems. 

And  the  minister  overseas  will  of  necessity  feel 
and  be  in  touch  with  each  of  these  problems.  He 
must  be  a  man  of  fine  tact  and  of  more  than  usual 
judgment  and  self-control,  for  he  will  come  into  the 
most  delicate  situations.  Many  of  the  problems  are 
of  a  political  nature  and  there  are  abundant  reasons 
why  he  should  not  become  involved  in  politics;  but 
each  of  these  problems  will  be  found  to  have  another 
side  which  is  not  political  but  more  accurately  social, 
and  the  minister  will  be  in  a  position  to  influence,  to 
guide,  and  to  advise  without  infringing  in  any  way 
on  the  proper  limitations  inherent  in  his  position. 

Each  mission  land  presents  a  social  problem  to 
which  one  does  not  wish  to  apply  an  adjective  lest 
the  superlative  degree  which  must  be  used  appear 
pure  exaggeration.  Take  Japan  as  an  example.  Her 
economic  development  is  unparalleled  in  history.  A 
generation  ago,  she  was  a  self-contained  land,  whose 
people  tilled  their  soil  and  in  their  homes  engaged  in 


10 


simple  home  industries.  Today,  she  is  one  of  the 
great  manufacturing  lands  of  the  world.  In  1900, 
she  had  1,400  factories  with  120,000  workers;  in 
1919,  she  had  30,000  factories  with  2,000,000  em¬ 
ployees. 

Now  the  minister  overseas  faces  this  situation 
with  a  clear  conviction  that  it  is  part  of  the  function 
of  Christianity  to  plant  in  Japanese  life  the  forces 
which  will  meet  and  overcome  the  host  of  problems 
which  modern  industrial  life  carries  in  its  train.  The 
great  problem  of  the  Church  overseas  is  to  apply  the 
gospel  to  the  whole  range  of  human  life,  Christian¬ 
izing  all  the  activities  of  men.  It  is  a  bigger  and 
harder  work  than  it  is  at  home. 

A  much  larger  part  of  the  responsibility  falls  upon 
the  Church  than  is  true  at  home.  Here  the  Church 
has  a  hundred  aids.  In  most  overseas  fields,  she  still 
works  to  a  large  degree  single  handed.  She  must 
create  the  public  sentiment  which  will  not  only  add 
to  her  own  strength  but  will  give  rise  to  social 
organizations  which  will  aid  her  in  the  fight. 

In  such  a  task,  the  minister  overseas  must  take  the 
lead.  It  was  the  minister  overseas  who  led  and  or¬ 
ganized  the  forces  in  China  which  overthrew  the 
opium  traffic.  It  was  he  who  was  the  best  aid  to  the 
women  leaders  through  whom  came  the  reforms  in 
the  practice  of  foot  binding. 


n 


The  minister  overseas  must  therefore,  in  our  day, 
be  a  leader  and  organizer  of  social  forces.  Lands 
such  as  China,  India,  Korea,  and  Japan  have  at  one 
and  the  same  time  the  social  and  moral  problems 
inherent  in  their  old  social  status  and  those  which 
come  with  the  rise  of  modern  economic  and  political 
systems.  The  church  overseas  must,  as  a  church, 
launch  at  once  into  the  great  social  problems.  The 
Kingdom  of  God  must  be  established  in  these  over¬ 
seas  lands  as  truly  as  men  must  be  brought  to  life  in 
Christ.  It  is  a  larger  and  a  harder  task  than  minis¬ 
ters  have  had  before,  but  the  two-fold  responsibility 
falls  without  fail  on  the  present  day  minister  over¬ 
seas.  Mission  churches  will  not  retain  Western  de¬ 
nominational  names  or  creeds  or  dividing  lines,  and 
cooperation  is  assured.  Organic  church  unity  in  no 
small  degree  is  likely  to  come  in  the  near  future. 
The  minister  must  be  able  to  fit  into  such  a  move¬ 
ment.  The  whole  Church  must  command  his  loyalty 
more  fully  than  the  division  to  which  he  belongs. 

But  the  largest  work  of  the  minister  overseas  is 
deeper  even  than  this,  though  most  intimately  con¬ 
nected  with  it.  He  comes  as  a  moral  and  social 
physician.  He  knows  that  each  of  the  evils  which  he 
fights,  each  social  problem  which  he  meets,  must  be 
fought.  As  the  doctor  fights  an  epidemic  of  disease, 
the  minister  overseas  fights  the  evils  of  society, 
whether  those  inherent  in  the  life  of  the  East  or  those 


12 


brought  in  from  the  West.  But  he  has,  or  should 
have,  the  scientific  spirit.  He  should  recognize  the 
superior  importance  of  prevention  as  compared  with 
cure.  And  while  he  stands  and  fights  the  prevailing 
epidemic,  he  plans  and  works  for  that  which  will 
prevent  its  reoccurrence.  He  knows  that  character  in 
men  is  the  surest  support  of  a  good  social  order.  He 
works  for  men.  He  is  not  greatly  concerned  about 
building  up  a  denomination  which  calls  itself  by  the 
name  he  has  been  associated  with.  He  sees  the  rise 
in  India,  in  China,  in  Japan,  in  South  Africa,  of 
Christian  churches  in  which  union  is  a  fact,  not  the 
effervescent  subject  of  after-dinner  speeches  and 
committee  meetings,  and  he  regards  it  as  natural  and 
inevitable.  But  he  is  concerned  if  he  notes  the  lack 
of  real  power — power  which  cannot  be  supplied  by 
any  numbers  or  any  form. 

Now  it  must  be  clear  that  the  work  of  the  minister 
overseas  is  hard.  He  must  have  initiative,  must  be 
able  to  adapt  himself,  his  methods,  and  practices  to 
changing  conditions  and  situations.  He  is  thrown 
to  a  tremendous  degree  on  his  own  resources.  One 
of  the  problems  facing  the  Christian  movement  over¬ 
seas  is  to  supply  the  ministers  needed  without  lower¬ 
ing  the  standard  below  that  required  by  the  situa¬ 
tion.  In  the  files  of  the  Interchurch  Movement,  there 
are  now  requests  for  3,255  ministers,  all  of  whom 
are  needed  within  the  next  five  years.  The  present 


13 


generation  of  college  men  must  decide  whether  the 
calls  are  to  be  met  or  not. 

We  have  not  spoken  specifically  in  this  pamphlet 
of  women  in  evangelistic  or  “general  missionary” 
work ;  but  most  of  what  has  been  said  applies  direct¬ 
ly  to  them.  The  range  of  their  work  is  perhaps  as 
broad  and  it  surely  is  as  important  and  demanding 
as  that  done  by  men  in  the  work  of  the  ministry.  It 
often  takes  on  pioneer  aspects;  it  deals  vigorously 
with  social  problems,  often  at  their  source;  it  is 
vitally  concerned  with  laying  the  foundations  of  the 
Church  in  the  Mission  field.  It  reaches  multitudes 
of  women  whom  men  workers  cannot  approach.  It 
penetrates  the  homes  of  the  non-Christian  world 
with  a  peculiar  influence.  And  today  it  is  in  need 
of  a  host  of  workers,  college  women  of  large  gifts, 
thorough  training  and  devoted  spirit. 


4 


